Erin Golden captured the title of Miss International® 2009 at the annual Miss International® Pageant held at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. With this prestigious honor, Erin was blessed with the incredible opportunity to voice her passion and personal message, fighting predominate cardiovascular diseases in women.

Proudly born and raised in the beautiful state of Arkansas, Erin is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Business, with emphasis in marketing, from Arkansas State University. With this knowledge and experience as an advocate, she is on a journey to become a thriving philanthropist and entrepreneur. It is in her home state that her commitment to the fight against heart disease with Go Red for Women truly began. Having a close family member affected by this disease made the topic even more threatening in Erin's eyes, and inspired her to fight for awareness and prevention for future victims. Heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases claim more American women's lives than the next five leading causes for death combined. When cardiovascular disease hit home for Erin, she truly realized the importance of learning your risks, caring for your heart, and taking action in the fight against heart disease. It is now her personal mission to open the eyes of others before this number one killer has the opportunity to attack.

According to Erin “I want women to understand the alarming facts and how they can prevent becoming part of such a frightening statistic. The facts are that one in three women will die of heart disease and it's too possible that this one in three could be your mother, your best friend, or this one in three could be you. These are facts that I'm just not willing to live with.”

In addition to her work advocating for The American Heart Association, Erin is also involved with several other organizations including: The Relay for Life, Special Olympics, Make a Wish Foundation, You're The Cure advocacy campaign, Better U program, as well as a volunteer and member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

As a seven year Hospice volunteer and fundraising coordinator, Erin has inspired others to become a volunteer for Hospice by sharing her personal experience. Hospice allows people to remain at home in a more comfortable environment while providing assistance in receiving necessary medical supervision. This very special type of care enables people in the last phase of a terminal illness the preservation of dying with dignity. Erin feels it's important for everyone to understand that Hospice is available and an option.

As Miss International® 2009, Erin will spend her year advocating and lobbying for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement with passion and conviction. She will also be assisting in the near term impact goal of reducing coronary heart disease and stroke by nothing less than a 25% risk upon 2010, as well as, working hard to change the perception that heart disease is a "man's disease."

Erin will also spend this time dedicated to helping women be proactive in the fight against this often preventable diseases and No. 1 killer. She truly believes by combining our passions together with positive actions, we can educate women to find their own personal path to a healthy heart.

Make a difference in your life or perhaps someone else's, by logging onto any of the following websites. With your help, we will learn and we will live!